UPDATED: Warrants: Murder suspect threatened ECSU student

Published June 18. 2013 6:00AM | Updated June 18. 2013 10:40AM

Associated Press

Bridgeport (AP) — A Connecticut man charged with murdering his college student girlfriend and dismembering her body had threatened to kill her after she tried to break up with him, according to newly released arrest and search warrant affidavits.

Also, officers who searched Jermaine Richards' home found two DVDs that depict dismemberment, police said in the affidavits released Monday.

Richards, 30, is charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Alyssiah Wiley, a 20-year-old sophomore psychology major at Eastern Connecticut State University. She disappeared near the Willimantic campus on April 20, and her dismembered remains were found a month later in a wooded area of Trumbull, about a mile from Richards' Bridgeport home.

Wiley tried to break up with Richards via Facebook in April and he became upset, police said. Afterward, Richards told a friend that Wiley "doesn't know who she's messing with" and that he was "going to get rid of her," according to the arrest warrant affidavit for Richards.

The friend questioned Richards about how he was going to get rid of her and Richards replied, "Trust me. I'm a nurse," the affidavit says.

Richards is being detained on $1 million bail and is set to return to Bridgeport Superior Court on Thursday. He has not yet entered pleas.

His lawyer, John R. Gulash, said Tuesday that he could not discuss the allegations in the affidavits.

"I believe it would be inappropriate to comment on a pending case," said Gulash.

When police searched Richards' home, they found two DVDs of films depicting human dismemberment — "Absolute Death and other Strange Occurrences" and "Death: the Final Journey, volume five," according to search warrant affidavits obtained by the Connecticut Post.

Police also found an empty garbage bag box, five rolls of duct tape and pants with bleach-like stains at Richards' home, police said. Authorities searched Richards' car and said they found latex gloves, balled-up duct tape mixed with hair and paper towel-like material and plastic bags, according to the affidavits.

Richards also owns a multifamily house in Ansonia where police said they seized several saws and axes, affidavits say.